Synonyms
Reframing
Introduction
Reframing is a widely used technique in the growing and evolving discipline of psychotherapy. Family and brief therapies, such as Strategic Family Therapy, utilize reframing to help clients view their problems from an alternate perspective, by labeling issues in ways that designate new, and often positive, meaning to the situations presented in therapy (Mattalia 2001). This new meaning is particularly useful for the purposes of psychotherapy, as new perspectives can evoke new possibilities for one’s experience and create space for the construction of new viable solutions that were otherwise invisible (Murphy and Dillon 2011). The process of proposing and adopting a new perspective is referred to as reframing, which has presented a staple technique in general counseling, taught among a variety of disciplines, and continues to be a tool to help induce therapeutic change. This chapter will explore the nuanced conceptualization and utilization of reframing...
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Andreas, S. (1991). Virginia Satir. Palo Alto: Science and Behavior Books.
Berg, I. K. (1994). Family-based services: A solution-focused approach. New York: Norton.
Boscolo, L., Cecchin, G., Hoffman, L., & Penn, P. (1987). Milan systemic family therapy: Conversation in theory and practice. New York: Basic Books.
Fisch, R., Weakland, J., & Segal, L. (1982). Tactics of change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Flaskas, C. (1992). A reframe by any other name: On the process of reframing in strategic, Milan and analytic therapy. Journal of Family Therapy, 14, 145–161.
Guise, R. W. (Ed.). (2015). Study guide for marriage and family therapy national licensing examination. Jamaica Plain: The Family Solutions Corporation.
Hastie, R. (1981). Schematic principles in human memory. In E. T. Higgins, C. P. Herman, & M. P. Zanna (Eds.), Social cognition: The Ontario symposium, volume 1 (pp. 39–88). Hillsdale: Erlbaum.
Jackson, D. D. (1961). Interactional psychotherapy. In M. T. Stein (Ed.), Contemporary psychotherapies. New York: Free Press of Glencoe.
Madanes, C. (1982). Strategic family therapy. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Mattalia, A. (2001). “Seeing things in a new light”: Reframing in therapeutic conversation. In Rehabilitation foundation research report. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press.
Minuchin, S., & Fishman, C. (1981). Family therapy techniques. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Murphy, B. C., & Dillon, C. (2011). Interviewing in action in a multicultural world (4th ed.). Belmont: Brooks/Cole.
Pinsoff, W. M. (1995). Integrative problem-centered therapy: A synthesis of family, individual, and biological therapies. New York: Basic Books.
Rumelhart, D. E. (1984). Schemata and the cognitive system. In R. S. Wyer & T. K. Srull (Eds.), Handbook of social cognition (Vol. 1, pp. 161–188). Hillsdale: Erlbaum.
Selvini Palazzoli, M., Boscolo, L., Cecchin, G., & Prata, G. (1974/1988). The treatment of children through brief therapy of their parents. In M. Selvini Palazzoli (Ed.), The work of Mara Selvini Palazzoli (pp. 121–135). London: Jason Aronson.
Sprenkle, D. H., Davis, S. D., & Lebow, J. L. (2009). Common factors in couple and family therapy: The overlooked foundation for effective practice. New York: The Guilford Press.
Watzlawick, P., Weakland, J., & Fisch, R. (1974). Change: Principles of problem formation and problem resolution. New York: W. W. Norton.
White, M., & Epston, D. (1990). Narrative means to therapeutic ends. New York: Norton.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Newsome, J., Mitchell, L., Awosan, C.I. (2019). Reframing in Couple and Family Therapy. In: Lebow, J.L., Chambers, A.L., Breunlin, D.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49425-8_325
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49425-8_325
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-49423-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-49425-8
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences